Chronically Unemployed

Some tips for attempting to land that new job

1. Be known by the right people

According to some sources, over 80% of jobs are given to those with some
kind of personal connection to the employer. That means those without
connections already have the odds stacked against them 5 to 1. Theres
no magic formulae that you will suddenly make you known by the right people
but coming from a wealthy, well-connected family and/or a prestigious
university can help. To quote a venture
capitalist blog:

"The truth is, who you know matters more than what you know. This
is not to say that being smart and knowledgable is useless. Knowing
"what" is often an effective means of getting introduced to
the right "whos". But ultimately, the people you know and
trust (and more importantly who trust you) matter more than the factual
knowledge you may have at your immediate disposal."

2. Include a photo with your resume

Conventional wisdom says youre not supposed to supply a picture
with your resume because some companies will pass over you because they
dont like people of your particular ethnic background. Include your
photo anyway; youll save yourself the pain of visiting places where
the idiots reject you because of the way you look.

Do you ever get the feeling that you would/wouldn't like someone just
by looking at their picture? Employers get that feeling too and the smart
ones take it seriously. A large part of a job involves getting along with
employers and cowerkers.

3. Look good and use body language that conveys youre interested
in the position

The interview consists of two separate sections. The view, and the interrogation.
The first 15 seconds of the interview is called the view. Looking bad
and/or displaying incorrect mannerisms during this time period are surefire
ways to be dropped from consideration for a position before any questions
are fired.

4. Play up your skills and experience

Employers like to scare potential employees away from lying by stating
that any deviation from the truth will be grounds for dismissal later
on. What they fail to mention is that everyone they interview is exaggerating
their skills and experience. By shooting straight you are just about guaranteed
to be passed over. I would advise against outright lying unless you are
extremely smart and believe you can learn the skills you lied about on-the-fly.
Generally this won't work though because the same dishonesty that makes
you lie about their skills will also cause you to overestimate your intellegence.

5. Realize that in a good amount of cases what lands you a job is
how much the employer likes you as a person

Ask yourself this question, do I appear likable to strangers? Can I get
along with many different types of people? Am I able to mute my negative
attitude long enough to make it through a couple rounds of job interviews.
A lot of business involves social or soft skills one can only learn by
observing and mimicking those with more experience in the field. These
are skills books and lectures could never teach even if they tried. Youll
see lots of job advice columns droning on about education but realize
many of these columns are sponsored by online universities.